


Side by Side with Your Loved One

by nowhiteflaguponmydoor



Category: MASH (TV)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Hawkeye helps, Other, Peggy has a crap day at work and is stressed, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:07:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23335873
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nowhiteflaguponmydoor/pseuds/nowhiteflaguponmydoor
Summary: "Hi, darling." Hawkeye immediately picks up on Peggy using her 'this-is-fine-I'm-fine-everything-is-fine' voice that usually results in BJ cornering her in the kitchen until she tells him what's wrong. "I'm going to be home late. You better go ahead and eat dinner, I'm not sure how long this is going to take."(BJ is out of town. Erin's at a friend's house. Peg and Hawkeye's romantic night alone doesn't turn out quite as planned.)
Relationships: B. J. Hunnicutt/Peg Hunnicutt, B. J. Hunnicutt/Peg Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, Peg Hunnicutt/Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce
Comments: 6
Kudos: 34





	Side by Side with Your Loved One

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justalittlegreen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justalittlegreen/gifts).



BJ is out of town attending a conference for trauma surgeons, so Peg and Hawkeye have the house to themselves since Erin is spending the night with a friend. Hawkeye is excited, since this doesn't happen often, and decides to make something special for dinner. He sings loudly as he works on tonight's meal: seafood pasta, with shrimp and scallops in a creamy tomato sauce. He's just cutting up the salad when the phone rings. 

"'Lo?" 

"Hi, darling." Hawkeye immediately picks up on Peggy using her this-is-fine-I'm-fine-everything-is-fine voice that usually results in BJ cornering her in the kitchen until she tells him what's wrong. "I'm going to be home late. You better go ahead and eat dinner, I'm not sure how long this is going to take." 

"Okay," Hawkeye says carefully. "Everything alright?" 

"A deal with a big buyer fell through at the last minute." 

Ah. That explains the voice. 

"Alright, Peg," he says gently. "See you later, Peg." 

"Bye, H--honey." She'd almost slipped up.

It’s past 8:00 when Peg finally gets home. Hawkeye is sitting in the den, sipping a scotch and reading one of BJ’s paperbacks, reading glasses perched on the end of his nose. He looks up and sees how long of a day she’s had written all over her face. He gets up and crosses over to her as she kicks off her high heels and then starts fussing with her stockings. “Hi, sweetheart,” he says softly, gently pulling her hands away so she doesn’t ruin her stockings and kissing the top of her head. 

She leans up to peck him on the cheek before trying to go back to the task at hand. 

“Whoa, Peg,” he says, leading her over to the chair he’d just vacated. “Let me help you.” 

He can see in her face that she’s fighting the urge to snark that  _ I can remove my own stocking, thank you very much _ , but she just sighs and puts her head in one hand as Hawkeye kneels down before her and pushes the skirt of her dress up so that he can gently detach the stockings from her garter, pulling them down slowly so they don’t tear. When both pairs are off, he slides his hands up the backs of her calves and back down again, then takes her right foot into his hands and starts massaging it.

Peg moans, and it’s almost obscene. This isn’t quite how she’d imagined Hawkeye on his knees making her moan tonight.   
  
He doesn’t say much, just methodically massages those nimble surgeon’s hands across her aching feet, humming softly to himself as he works. Just when Peggy thinks he’s turned her into a pile of jelly and that she might be nodding off, he leans forward and presses a kiss to her bare knee. “Why don’t you go upstairs and take a bath?” 

She nods and he gives her a hand to help her up. 

When Peg is through with her bath, she heads into the bedroom to change into her pajamas. Hawkeye is already in bed reading,and has her favorite soft nightgown laid out for her on the bed. There’s also a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on a plate next to a glass of milk on Peg’s bedside table. She changes out of her robe and into the nightgown, and eyes the milk and sandwich on her nightstand. Hawkeye catches her looking. “I figured you didn’t eat dinner,” he explains. “And I thought it was too late for seafood pasta.” 

She pauses. “You made seafood pasta?” 

He nods, and she sniffs, suddenly overwhelmed, the events of the day catching up with her. “Thank you,” she says, tears springing unbidden to her eyes. Hawkeye scoots over and perches on the edge of the bed, wrapping his arms around her as she tucks her head under his chin and cries. It’s cathartic, and she’s thankful for Hawkeye’s quiet and steady presence: he doesn’t ask any questions, just kisses the top of her head and strokes her hair. 

(If BJ were here, he’d do the same, but he’d probably also press her for what’s wrong, make her talk it out, and honestly she doesn’t want to right now.)

Eventually, she stops crying and wipes her eyes, smiling wanly at Hawkeye. He smiles back, corners of his eyes crinkling. She eats her sandwich and drinks her milk; they brush their teeth side by side in the bathroom and then curl up close to each other in the dark. “Night, darling,” she tells him. He kisses the back of her neck. “Night, Peggy Jane.”

(Tomorrow they’ll make love in the early morning. They’ll eat the seafood pasta for breakfast, and Peg will tell Hawkeye what happened--she took the brunt of the deal falling through, even though it hadn’t been her fault. She’d stayed for damage control, and then was yelled at by her boss. She’d kept it together until she found the PB&J sandwich and realized that they wouldn’t have the romantic night alone that Hawkeye had planned. Hawkeye will laugh, and tell her that he wouldn’t have spent it any other way--just look what they did this morning. She’ll go pick up Erin, and the three of them will spend the rest of the day together until it’s time to go get BJ from the airport.)

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> Idk, I figure everyone's been stressed lately and hope this fluff helps a little. 
> 
> Title from "Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp because Hawkeye cooking pasta made me think of it.


End file.
